Real Madrid face Athletic Bilbao on Saturday aiming to return to winning days after last Sunday’s draw against Villarreal. A victory would be quite important for Los Blancos also from a statistical point of view since the last three times they won La Liga they had earned all three points in their visit to Bilbao.
The first precedent of this curious statistic dates back to the 2006-07 season. Managed by Fabio Capello, Los Merengues conquered the La Liga title that year. They lifted the trophy thanks to their better goal average, since Barcelona had earned the same points, so the San Mames victory was quite important.
Los Blancos succeeded at the old San Mames beating Atletic 1-4 thanks to goals from Sergio Ramos, Guti and Ruud Van Nistelrooy, who scored a brace.
The following season, this time with Bernd Schuster on the bench, Madrid also ended leading the table and winning the championship, and again they got good luck from beating Athletic. They defeated Los Leones 0-1 thanks to a Van Nistelrooy goal.
The last time Madrid won La Liga, in the 2011-12 season they curiously also defeated Athletic at their stadium. In fact, they officially became champions after beating the Basques 0-3 with goals from Gonzalo Higuain, Cristiano Ronaldo and Mesut Ozil.
Last season Madrid brought a 1-1 draw from San Mames and Atletico Madrid ended up winning the title. Just a coincidence?
